Chapter Four
“Hurry up. We don’t want to be late.”
For once, Sara agreed with her mother. Today was her favorite day of the season, aside from Christmas itself of course.
For as long as she could remember the Everrett family and closest of friends would gather to put up the Christmas tree and then decorate it.
By evening, half the island would be at their home to turn on the lights, and enjoy the mother of all pot luck dinners.
The intrusive matchmaking usually didn’t happen for a few more weeks.
Then she’d be bombarded with a parade of eligible bachelors, most of whom she wouldn’t have picked if they’d been the last men on earth.
Trying to walk and slip into her new sandals at the same time, she hobbled into the living room. “Ready.”
“It might be easier if you sat down to do that.”
Tugging the strap in place, Sara straightened to her full height. “No need. Done and ready.” Keys dangling from her finger, she waved them at her mother. “Let’s go.”
Her mother was already out the front door and waiting on the porch, a massive tray of Mexican lasagna in her hands. Ever since her mother discovered this recipe of noodles with Mexican seasoned meats and cheeses instead of marinara sauce and mozzarella, this was her go-to pot luck contribution.
By the time they pulled up to the Everrett home, Billy’s truck was in front, the massive evergreen tree on the roof and at least a half a dozen men surrounding the vehicle, each shouting instructions to the other.
Sara had to laugh. As entertaining as watching her friends lob witty retorts and occasional digs, she knew that when these men served together, they operated as a very well oiled machine.
Which was probably why they hadn’t lost a tree yet.
“Need a hand?” Sara shot Billy a fat grin. “You know, from a girl?” She couldn’t help teasing him.
“That’s right.” Hands on her hips, Maille stood on the front stoop. “If you bunch of galoots don’t get that tree in the house and put up, I’m going to have the girls do it.”
Mumbles and grumbles could be heard coming from the truck as they finally coordinated their efforts and had the thing on its way inside the house.
When Kenny came past her, hanging on to the trunk of the tree with Billy and the others, dispersed from bottom to tip bearing the weight of the massive evergreen, he winked at her.
The action caught Sara off guard. He’d never done that before.
Then again, they’d never wrestled a drunken bride together before either.
Before she could do much more than smile at the man, she turned and spotted Maile still on the stoop, a sly grin on her face.
“Uh oh.” Almost afraid, she glanced over her shoulder.
Sure enough, her mom was eyeing Maile and the two women had mirror grins on their faces.
Oh, how Sara hoped those dazzling smiles were over a great tree and had nothing to do with the way Kenny had sort of greeted her.
In the house, the normal chaos that came with this day of the year was in full swing.
Boxes containing ornaments were piled along one wall.
Maile and Ava each removed the lids, and slid a box toward the middle.
Across the way, Nick and Kara were opening the boxes of lights, handing them off to Doug and Billy who seemed to be on lights duty.
Off to the side, carrying a large tote labeled Father Christmas, Kenny set it down in the next room, one by one removing Maile’s collection of vintage Santas that reminded Sara of the Ghost of Christmas Past.
Every year, new little ones joined the escapades.
Seeing Emily playing with her nephew Eddie made Sara smile pretty wide herself.
From the moment Em had shared with her that they were expecting their first child, Sara was over the moon for her best friend.
In fact, she was so happy for her friend, anyone would think Sara was the one about to start a family.
Emily was such a fantastic school teacher that Sara knew her friend would be an amazing mom.
Moving closer to Maile and Ava, Sara reached for one of the boxes of ornaments and Maile waved a hand at her, shaking her head. “We’ve got this. You go help with my Santas and Angels. Men have terrible eyes for decoration.”
Fighting the urge to roll her eyes. Sara smiled and nodded and turned toward the other room. She was going to have to explain—once again—to her mother and her mother’s best friend, that she could find her own man.
“Hi,” a voice that felt as smooth as velvet and deep as the ocean floated over her.
“I’ve been sent to supervise.”
Kenny raised one dark brow. “Supervise?”
“Translation—the mothers want us to work together.”
His brows folded into a deep V before quickly arching high on his forehead with understanding. “We’ve been targeted.”
“Not we,” she rolled her eyes for real this time, “you. They’ve set their sights on you. My suspicion is after all these years, they no longer care that you’re a little older than me. You winked at me; in their minds, we’re as good as married with two point two kids and a dog. I’m sorry.”
“No need to apologize.” He handed her the first large doll with it’s flowing velvet robe and fur collar, really did look like the Ghost of Christmas Past from the old Christmas Carol movie.
“I think it’s kind of sweet how much they care for you.
Which means I’m going to consider it a compliment they think I’m good enough for you. ”
“Sorry to burst your bubble, but anyone with the right chromosomes and no wedding ring would rank on their list of matches.”
“Ouch.” He handed her a smaller doll that was designed to sit on a ledge.
Looking around at her options, she decided to walk it over to the mantel.
“When I found that in a little shop in England, I thought of Maile. If I’d been hunting for the perfect gift I probably would never have found it, shopping is not my strength, but that doll just jumped out at me.
” His smile showed the pride he felt at having given the Everrett matriarch a treasured gift.
Now she understood why this particular decoration was one of Maile’s favorites.
When Maile had told her eons ago that it was a gift, Sara had assumed it was from one of her kids.
She should have realized that as far as Maile was concerned, all her children’s friends—in and out of the military—were like her own children and the gift could have come from any one of them.
They’d succeeded in emptying two of the boxes when Ava came to help.
By the time all the Santa, angels, and Father Christmas dolls were on display through out the family room, and a few in strategic places around the social areas of the house, the men in the other room were down to the last string of lights.
Nick on his knees testing light bulbs, Doug standing a few feet from his brother-in-law with a fully lit string of lights hanging around his neck and extended in each arm, while Billy squatted low, meticulously connecting each bulb on the bottom branches.
When the three men eased back to admire their handy work, the whole room erupted in applause.
The tree reached the ceiling and sparkled with an array of bright colors that danced across the walls.
Having a pre-lit artificial tree was a heck of a lot easier, but the old fashioned bulbed strings of light in multi colors, carefully wrapped around the freshly cut tree could not be beat.
She absolutely loved it. Now all she had to do was help with the ornament hanging and steer clear of all the single men in the place.
Maybe her mother and Maile would give up on the matchmaking efforts.
She blew out a sigh. And maybe she’d win the Irish Sweepstakes.
“Now what can I do?” Kenny came to stand next to Maile Everrett.
He’d done his best to avoid Sara. Not that he didn’t enjoy her company, or appreciate another opportunity to sit and chat, but he also knew all too well that if given even a hint of interest, her mother and Billy’s mother would be plotting to hook the two of them up.
While that wouldn’t be such a horrible thing, he did have quite a few years on Sara and knew that the older women’s efforts embarrassed Sara, so he did his best to keep his distance from her.
“Here.” Maile handed him a huge plate of raw kabobs. “Take these to Doug by the grill.” Running the kitchen like a Marine on a mission, she turned to Angela by the fridge. “The mango salad is on the bottom shelf.”
Turning on his heel, Kenny carried the kabobs across the lawn and found himself scanning for Sara. He hoped she was doing okay. The thought of the older women’s matchmaking efforts upsetting Sara had him a bit unsettled.
On the rear lawn, along with wickets for a game of croquet at one end and a volleyball net at the other, every space in between was taken up with an array of six foot tables decorated with Santa at the beach plastic tablecloths.
At the far back, to the west of the grill, the rear property wall was backdrop to table after table of food, and with every new guest arriving, more food came with them.
The Everrett family holiday potluck to kick off the season had gotten bigger and bigger every year.
Pretty soon, the family was going to have to rent a hall to keep up with the crowds.
“Here.” Maile walked up to him as he approached the patio doors, a massive bowl of mustard potato salad in her hands. “Set this on the table with the other salads, please.”
“Yes, ma’am.” He almost saluted, but caught himself in time.
Her smile warmed. For a moment, she was out of drill sergeant mode and in substitute mother mode. “Such a nice boy.”
Laughter almost burst forth from deep in his gut. He was almost forty years old. It had been an awfully long time since anyone had referred to him as a boy. Still, all he could think to say was, “Thank you.”
“Okay. Shoo. Go take the bowl, then serve yourself a plate and take a seat. We need to get the food lines going before my refrigerator explodes from over stuffing.”
This time he nodded, did as he’d been told, and had a dish piled high with pulled pork, salads, breads, and the wonderful kabobs.
He’d barely made it halfway across the lawn when this time he was intercepted by Sara’s mother.
“Please have a seat at table nine. I’m trying to get everyone to spread out a bit. ”
His gaze drifted to the tables before him, settling on number nine. An empty table with few people at any of the surrounding tables. “Sure thing.” He nodded and smiled back at her.
No more than a few minutes had passed when Maile Everrett appeared, practically dragging Sara behind her.
“Here, you should sit. It will encourage more people to stop huddling by the food tables and take seats.” The woman wasn’t content with directing Sara to the same table as him, she yanked a chair out from beside him and gestured to Sara. “Not there. Here.”
Sara already had a hand on the back of the seat across from him. When Maile insisted she surrender her chair to sit beside him, for a long moment, her eyes closed and he wondered if she was praying. Plastering on a wide forced smile, she nodded and worked around the table to sit beside him.
Content with her work, Maile bobbed her head, patted Sara on the shoulder, and walked toward the house.
“I really am sorry.” Her fork dangling in front of her, she stared at the food not him.
“Nothing to be sorry for.”
Letting the fork drop to the plate, she shifted to face him. “Yes there is, they’ve set their sites on you. If you’re lucky they’ll give up quickly and move on to someone else.”
“Someone else?”
She nodded.
“Anyone in particular?”
“Oh, who knows.” She heaved a deep, frustrated sigh. “I really thought they’d given up on you years ago.”
“I beg your pardon?” He wasn’t sure quite how to take that.
His response must have been perfect because the tension in her shoulders eased and a real smile teased her lips. “I mean, on matching you up with me. They love you.”
“And I love them.” He took a second to scan all the people in the yard.
Some he knew, some he didn’t, but there were many he loved very much.
Including Maile Everrett. Returning his gaze to Sara, he tipped his head.
“They’re really going to keep making you sit next to strangers until you find Mr. Right. ”
“Mr. Right would be nice, but after all their failed efforts, I’m convinced they’d be happy with Mr. Good Enough.”
“I can’t believe that. I’ve never known anyone in the Everrett family to settle. Ever.”
“Okay. So, maybe I’m just a bit cynical.
” At that moment her gaze drifted toward the house and he knew the second she’d spotted what he had.
Her mother and Maile were standing in the doorway, staring at them, smiling, hands waving back and forth, clearly delighted and he suspected it had nothing to do with the smorgasbord they’d set up.
“You don’t suppose they’re just happy with the turn out.”
Sara spun to face him, one brow arched high, her glare was piercing.
“Okay. Maybe not.” He looked at the two women with their heads together, giggling like school girls.
An idea tickled the back of his brain. Could it work?
Was it crazy? Would it help Sara? He couldn’t think of a negative.
It’s not like she was a dog, and what did it matter she was younger.
A decade ago yes, but now…. What the heck.
“Sara Alani, would you be my date for the season?”